


Intolerance

by mxwolfpack



Category: Kpop - Fandom, SHINee
Genre: College AU, Ice Cream Shop AU, M/M, One-Shot, Rock Band AU, this is my first time writing SHINee please be kind to me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24679696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxwolfpack/pseuds/mxwolfpack
Summary: Jonghyun is five hours into his shift when a ragtag group comes into the shop and conversation gets a little too personal.
Relationships: Kim Jonghyun/Lee Taemin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 28





	Intolerance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [michiitaa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/michiitaa/gifts).



It's ten minutes until closing when the door swings open, the jingling of the bell scraping against the sides of the workers' nerve endings, nearly intolerable.

Jonghyun looked up from where he was frantically scraping ice out of the front display and tried to muster up the least fake smile he possibly could in the current situation.

It was a college job; something to earn road trip money while he worked through his degree requirements, and it was flexible enough that he was still able to dance on an intramural team and take evening art classes a few days a week, so nothing to complain about. However, it was finals week, and he'd been pulling as close to all-nighters as he could before crashing on the shitty couch in his equally shitty studio apartment for a few hours and waking up with the smell of instant coffee under his nose from the night before, and he was banking on no customers coming in for the last hour so he could speed the ten minutes back to campus and pick up some last-minute study guide notes from a classmate. So the ragtag group in front of him, shuffling their feet and squinting into the freshly cleaned display case, was not his favorite sight, to say the least.

His manager - and subsequently one of his best friends - caught his passive-aggressively widened eyes and stifled a giggle under her breath as she dropped the mop handle she was holding against the door frame and crossed the floor to join him. Kim Taeyeon was the closest thing he had to a sibling here in Seoul - she was a musical studies major like he was, although she was a few years older and the two actually met when she was a teacher's assistant for one of his music appreciation courses - and she had stayed to work at the ice cream shop with him even after graduating because she thought he "needed a friend", despite his constant complaining whenever she tried to assert her managerial duties over him. The two were known around campus for their eclectic hair colors and equally eccentric personalities, but Taeyeon had switched to a neutral blonde when she graduated in hopes of securing an internship in the industry while she prepared for her master's degree, leaving Jonghyun as the token chameleon. His hair was bubblegum pink currently, bangs covering most of his forehead and the strong eyebrows Taeyeon told him to use to his advantage, but hair color hardly mattered with the ugly visors they had to wear as part of the shop's uniform. 

Jonghyun reluctantly swept his eyes away from Taeyeon's wrinkled nose and addressed the group in front of him, smiling his signature sugary-sweet grin.

"Hi, welcome! How can we help you tonight?"

Now that he was really looking at the group, he was a little less repulsed over their appearance being so late in his shift. There were four of them, all rather tall, and they all had remnants of shadowy eyeliner swiped across their eyelids, which suggested they must have been somewhere they wanted to make a good impression at. Looking closer, they wore attire Jonghyun immediately identified as common to the local punk band scene, which piqued his interest even more. His impression was cemented when the boy in the back, whose hair was close cropped compared to his groupmates' and who sported a unique-looking slit in his right eyebrow, moved to pull what Jonghyun assumed must have been his wallet out of his pocket and accidentally knocked two ebony-colored drumsticks to the ground, clattering on the linoleum. The boy cursed, eliciting a harsh _"Kibum!"_ from the boy in the front, and Jonghyun leaned a little closer over his place next to the register.

Out of the corner of his eye, Taeyeon was smirking mercilessly, but Jonghyun refused to acknowledge her.

"Did you guys just come from a gig?" 

The boy in front looked back from his groupmate to shoot a surprised box-shaped smile in Jonghyun's direction. "Yeah, we actually just came from a gig on campus! What gave it away, the outfits or the drumsticks?"

"Both, actually," Jonghyun laughed. "I'm a musical studies major at the local university - it'd be a shame on my family name if I was unable to tell my fellow musicians apart from the crowd."

The tallest of the four extended a hand to Jonghyun, his expression rather serious but his dark eyes sparkling in amusement. "It's nice to meet another music enthusiast. I'm sorry we're here so late, the little one wanted ice cream."

Attention then turned to the smallest of the group, a silver-haired boy in a shocking amount of leather who was absolutely beaming and was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. There was no denying that all of the boys were attractive, but this one had the breath in Jonghyun's throat catching shamelessly. He tried to pass it off as a cough, which just made Taeyeon laugh harder in his periphery. She quickly dismissed herself into the back room and Jonghyun pointedly ignored the quiet cackling he assumed was now coming from the manager's office. 

"I want a chocolate milkshake!" The silver-haired boy announced, eyes glowing with excitement. The tallest boy turned and gave him an expression that could only be disapproving, and Jonghyun waited patiently, thoroughly amused at this point. 

"Taemin," the tallest boy sighed, "you're lactose intolerant."

Jonghyun immediately burst into laughter, barely catching the fact that those big, pleading eyes had now turned to him with a pout.

The silver-haired boy - Taemin? - flung his arms out and attached himself to the drummer boy - Kibum? - who immediately shrieked and shook the smaller boy off of him. 

"Please! Please please _please,_ Minho, I promise I haven't had dairy _all day_ and it will be _fine-_ "

Kibum turned and sent a desperate look to Jonghyun. "Please, oh my god, as his roommate, _please_ don't let him get a milkshake."

The boy with the box-shaped smile turned to Taemin with an equally pleading look. "Tae, we _know_ how bad you get, I have a final tomorrow morning and I can't be getting a call at 3:00 AM from Key telling me to come pick your ass up because you're crying in the bathroom, please be smart..."

Jonghyun let the boys bicker for a few more moments, drinking in the unbridled chaos before him, before he snuck a few steps back to the minifridge and quietly pulled out a carton before returning to the register.

"Hey," he interrupted, startling slightly as four pairs of wild eyes locked back onto him. "We have almond milk."

Complete silence for a moment, and then cheers.

Suddenly, Jonghyun was pulled across the counter and into the frantic arms of four adrenaline-pumped, slightly damp, screaming college-age boys. His visor was knocked off in the chaos that ensued and then, in an instant, Taemin was on the floor kneeling in front of him, a shitty Hot Topic ring pulled off some hand in the excitement presented to him as if it were a wedding band. It looked like Taemin was legitimately crying.

"Sir," the boy sobbed, half overdramatic and half shockingly genuine, "Can I please ask for your hand in marriage? You have saved my group, saved my friendships, saved my _life._ "

"Taemin, oh my _God,_ get up and stop making a fool of yourself, please leave the poor worker alone," the boy with the box-shaped smile groaned, trying unsuccessfully to pull the silver-haired boy up off the floor. More chaos ensued and, in a leap of faith, Jonghyun hopped back over the counter and began making the requested milkshake with more cheers to egg him on. The rest of the interaction went by in a blur, the rest of the boys ordering simple ice cream cones and each thanking Jonghyun profusely, and Jonghyun left them once the transaction was complete to wash the milkshake pitcher and try to control his breathing.

He didn't notice the ring until the pitcher was in the sanitizer, but Taeyeon noticed from a mile away, slapping him way too hard on the back and nearly choking on her laughter as she went back out to the front to begin her nightly closing duties. The bell jingled again a minute before Taeyeon went to lock the doors, and Jonghyun briefly considered chasing after the boys and thanking them for making his week, but before he could Taeyeon came back into the back room with a devilish smile and a napkin in her hand.

"Looks like you got a number," she grinned, passing him the napkin on which messy black Sharpie digits were scrawled. "Go call your new husband."

He did.

**Author's Note:**

> I have awakened from my yearlong fanfiction hibernation to write this disaster of a one-shot at 4 AM.
> 
> Regrets? Absolutely. Hotel? Trivago.


End file.
